Classic muscle art

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Who is David Gentle, exactly?

Shame on you!  David Gentle is an internationally recognised author and historian of physical culture. For decades, he has been a regular contributor of over 25 of the world’s top muscle magazines.  His prolific writings include over 2,000 articles published in the World Muscle Press.

David was born in 1933 and was a successful bodybuilding and Maxalding practitioner, winning awards for both his physique and muscle control abilities.  He wasn’t a slouch in the strength stakes, either, hitting a double bodyweight bench press of 136kg (300lbs).

David received the John Grimek Life-Time Achievement Award in Italy in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to physical culture and was also awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Physical Culture Award by the Oscar Heidenstam Foundation for services to bodybuilding.

If you’re pushed for time, check out my top ten articles of David Gentle but if you are at a loose end you can read most of his articles at his website.  It contains David’s extraordinary collection of iron works including articles about:

• Muscle groups – David’s insights into training abs, arms and forearms
• Legendary bodybuilders – Marvin Eder, John Grimek et al.
• History of physical culture – a century of muscles
• Bodybuilding – an encyclopaedia
• Insights and reflections – David’s personal thoughts on the iron game
• Weight training – dumbbells, barbells and more
• Unusual feats of strength – tough teeth and other strange things
• Profiles of the greats – Sandow and his friends

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 So what is Classic Muscle Art all about?

It’s an exciting study that explores the art of the muscular body as it has developed and evolved throughout time.  The authors investigate the muscular ideal, as exemplified in sports like weightlifting and bodybuilding, sculpture, painting and photography, movies and cartoons.  Starting with Eugen Sandow, we take a romp through history, finishing with the glorious screen triumphs of Arnold Schwarzeneggar.

It’s a very well-illustrated volume that draws heavily on David’s extensive collection of muscle memorabilia and magazines.  It traces the history of the establishment of physical standards of beauty and aesthetics and the athletic capabilities of the muscular physique.

How are muscles and art related?

David and Alan expore this question in a comprehensive historical commentary packed with lavish artworks, both ancient and modern.  Following their lead, we meet fabulous muscular inspirations, from the greek gods Apollo and Hercules, to oldtime strongmen Eugene Sandow and Arthur Saxon, early bodybuilders Charles Atlas and Steve Reeves, and finally the big screen muscular presences epitomised by Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Slyvester Stallone.

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Sounds great!  Where can I get a copy?

At the moment, the only place you can get hold of it is at Lulu, which is a self-publishing website.  You can easily pay using Paypal and I got my copy downloaded as a PDF in about 10 minutes.

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Here is a selection of my favourite David Gentle articles from his new site:

1. The Life and Times of David Gentle - if you haven’t come across David before, start here.  David explains how he became involved in documenting physical culture, why he thinks most people tend to only dabble in it for a short time and why hard work is all you really need.  Along the way, he tells stories of training in old home gyms where the floor is mud, the roof is tin and the weights are made out of concrete rather than steel.
2. John Grimek: the greatest bodybuilder of all time - in this heartfelt article, David explains why he believes that John Grimek was the greatest bodybuilder of all time, how he built his strength and size, how far ahead of everyone else of his time he was, how he worked for York Barbell until he was 75 and how he was still squatting with 600lbs in his 70′s.  I didn’t realise that John was only 5’8″, as he always appears taller in the photographs…
3. Marvin Eder: man of might and muscle - I am a huge fan of Marvin Eder, mainly because of his massive lifts on the weighted chin (200lbs, or double bodyweight for 8 reps, which is basically my 1RM) and 434lbs on the weighted dip (which is just nuts).  David catalogues these lifts and more besides, while giving his own insights into them as a medal-winning lifter himself.
4. Dave Prowse: may the force be with you - David looks at the man behind the mask of Darth Vader, of Star Wars fame.  I think most people know now that Darth Vader in the original three Star Wars films was played by three actors.  Dave Prowse was the body in the black suit.  James Earl Jones provided the voice and Sebastian Shaw provided the face in the very few scenes in which he is unmasked.  Dave Prowse was a big man but he also had big dreams for how much good he could do – he became the Green Cross Code Man, which was part of a campaign to teach children how to behave safely around traffic.  As a result, he visited over 700 schools and the number of deaths relating to traffic dropped by 20,000.  Potentially, he saved 20,000 lives.  Imagine having that on your CV…
5. Goerner: the iron man - Hermann Goerner was on the cover of one of the first physical culture magazines that David ever bought and became on of his great influences.  Famed as a great deadlifter, David notes that he could also do a strict curl with 220lbs (100kg).  I was interested to note that David explains how Hermann trained with many sets of low reps, three days a week.
6. The artistry of Frank Zane - David explains the phenomenon that was (and is, if you see his recent pictures) Frank Zane.  For a brief period, professional bodybuilding wobbled in its trajectory towards the gigantic behemoths that we see today, and favoured the slighter, more aesthetic physique, as modelled by Frank Zane.  Interestingly, David explains how Zane was also a relatively short man, like John Grimek, at 5’9″. 
7. The magic of Reg Park - I had to include Reg Park as David calls him the greatest bodybuilder that Britain ever produced.  I suspect that Dorian might now argue with that claim but whatever.  I was intrigued to see that Reg came from Leeds, which is a (fairly grim) city in the North of England, while Dorian, as everyone knows, came from just outside Birmingham, which is a (grim) city in the Midlands of England.  David explained how Reg used some pretty impressive poundages in his training, including a 605lbs bench press.
8. Bodybuilders, weightlifting and longevity - as a big proponent of resistance training to maintain activity in old age, I really liked this great article by David, in which he lists a number of famous bodybuilders and lifters who lived well into their 80′s, 90′s and even passed the 100 mark.  David also provides his top tips for ageing well and gives a sample programme for someone with a longevity bias.
9. Training terrific triceps - just in case you thought that David was only about recounting the tales of the great bodybuilders, here is a nice little training article about how to build up the most important arm muscle.  Understandably, he does refer to the exploits of certain bodybuilders along the way, including mentioning Marvin Eder’s massive dipping prowess (again! – I still can’t get my head around the fact that he dipped with twice the added weight than most other very well trained people can use).
10. Mind over muscle - David explains how the mind functions in bodybuilding and how it is possible to make the mind work for you instead of against you in achieving your goals.

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 I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I did pulling them together.

These two sites are the benchmark internet repository for the huge amount of material that was written both by and about the great strongmen who lived between the close of the 19th century and the start of the modern era and the popularisation of bodybuilding (i.e. the rise of Arnold).

One of the most prolific authors both in and about that period is the British author, David Gentle.

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So who is David Gentle, exactly? 

David Gentle is an internationally recognised author and historian of physical culture. For several decades, he has been a regular contributor of over 25 of the world’s top muscle magazines.  His prolific writings include over 2,000 articles published in the World Muscle Press.

He was born in 1933 and was a successful bodybuilding and Maxalding practitioner, winning awards for both his physique and muscle control abilities.  He wasn’t a slouch in the strength stakes, either, hitting a double bodyweight bench press of 136kg (300lbs).

David received the John Grimek Life-Time Achievement Award in Italy in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to physical culture and was also awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Physical Culture Award by the Oscar Heidenstam Foundation for services to bodybuilding.

You can see my round-up of some of my favourite articles by David here.

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David Gentle’s new website

Recently, I was contacted by the site administrator to let me know that David has a new website.  Please go and check it out.  It has a more complete articles section, which is intended to be updated continually.  It contains David’s extraordinary collection of iron works including articles about:

• Muscle groups – David’s insights into training abs, arms and forearms
• Legendary bodybuilders – Marvin Eder, John Grimek et al.
• History of physical culture – a century of muscles
• Bodybuilding – an encyclopaedia
• Insights and reflections – David’s personal thoughts on the iron game
• Weight training – dumbbells, barbells and more
• Unusual feats of strength – tough teeth and other strange things
• Profiles of the greats – Sandow and his friends

Please visit David Gentle and enjoy the writings of one of the most prolific writers of physical culture of his time!

David was kind enough to pay a visit to my site and commented on the post about Martin “Farmer” Burns.  Obviously, I was completely star-struck and babbled some incoherent reply.  Unsurprisingly, I didn’t hear from him again.

Anyway, moving on.

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So who is David Gentle, again?

David Gentle born in 1933 and was a successful bodybuilding and Maxalding practitioner, winning awards for both his physique and muscle control abilities.  He has his own website, where you can read about his life and see some of his articles.  He wasn’t a slouch in the strength stakes, either, hitting a double bodyweight bench press of 136kg (300lbs).

Perhaps more importantly for our generation, he is a prolific physical culture and bodybuilder author, having written over 2,000 articles for various magazines and publications, as well as a few books along the way.

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David’s biographies and articles about oldtime strongmen

I’ve already mentioned these in my series about the oldtime strongmen but here they are for completeness, along with a brief summary about each man:

• Apollon - Apollon was born J C Tolson in Dewsbury, Yorkshire in 1903 and enjoyed a successful career on stage before writing a popular strength training postal course.  He took the stage name “Apollon” from the French strongman of the same name, Louis Uni.
• Louis Cyr - Cyr was born in 1863 and died in 1912 in Quebec, Canada.  At the age of 17, he already weighed 230lbs (104 kg).  In 1886, during a competitionagainst the reigning Canadian strongman, David Michaud, he lifted a 218lbs (99 kg) barbell with one hand to win the title of strongest man in Canada.
• Don Dorans - Dorans was born in London in 1912.  He won Mr Britain in 1943, followed by Mr Universe in 1950.  He ran a successful weightlifting school in Ealing in the 1950’s and his pupils excelled in various weightlifting and bodybuilding competitions. 

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Some of David’s other articles

• Confessions of a mag swapper - Stop! Don’t flick over this one and go straight to “how strong are you?” or “a history of the bench press”.  I know you want to look at those more exciting articles but first take a minute to read this short piece about David’s first-hand experience of the early muscle-building courses and the early magazines and see what drives him as a collector and historian.  All I can say is, for the health of my wallet, thank goodness for the internet!
• How strong are you? David takes a look at what weights might be good targets for the “unassisted” lifter.  Some interesting numbers, some of which look a little low by today’s standards (like the maximum weight deadlift) and some (like the number of one-arm chins) really made me sit up, blinking.
• The ever changing face of strength and health - read David’s review of the evolution of the leading physical culture magazine, Health and Strength.
• Economy schedules - for those without a moment’s spare time to exercise, David provides the solution in the form of short, hard but effective workout plans.
• Increase muscle strength to gain muscle size - David gives some solid numbers for when you need to start thinking about isolation exercises.  Before that, stick to the big compound lifts.
• Leo Stern tribute - David takes a look at the large but underestimated influence of Leo Stern on the world of physical culture and bodybuilding.
• Who are you going to choose? - if you are curious about how judging bodybuilding contests works and are interested in hearing David’s first-hand account of how judging has changed over the years, this might be what you’re looking for.
• Workout recovery - read about the importance of rest and recovery.
• An inspiration to us all: Clarence Ross - David takes a long, hard look at the man who beat Steve Reeves, twice.
• The Legendary Steve Reeves: an obituary - speaking of Steve Reeves, here is David’s obituary of the great man.
• On John Grimek talking about squats - this is an article posted on the T-Nation forum (you have to scroll down a little way) that talks about John Grimek’s squat programme.  I like it when he mentions doing one-legged squats with 180-200lbs.
• A history of the bench press - OK, admit it, you scrolled all the way down to this link and clicked on it, didn’t you!  Go back to the top and read “confessions of a mag swapper” first.  But definitely come back and read this when you’re done.  Find out about the beginnings, with the floor press as performed by George Hackenschmidt and Joe Nordquest.  Follow the rollercoaster past the heights of Doug Hepburn and his record-breaking bench press of 500lbs right up to the great Bill Kazmaier’s lift of 661lbs.  If you’re interested in bodyweight plus feats, like I am, you’ll be most amazed by Marvin Eder’s dip of 435lbs plus his bodyweight.  I guess that must be triple bodyweight.  I thought I was the bees knees for hitting double bodyweight!

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I hope you find these as enjoyable to read as I have.